[script/mod] ImprovedRaces R15.31 (24.04.2012)

TrixX · Post by **TrixX** » Thu, 23. Sep 10, 17:33

Not at all. The economy can work if the settings are altered. Currently ECells are the primary component (along with crystals but lets not go there!) which drive the base of the economy, yet are always in short supply. No real need for that it's just how the current structure works. If there were more localised structure systems instead of some being arbitrarily removed then it would make setting the economy a lot easier.

For instance say Paranids are the only race who have the ability to make HEPT's. It would need to be constructed in such a way that those HEPT's make their way into Teladi hands and eventually to the rest of the commonwealth races. Current supply convoys are single merchant ships which tend to work on Sector Trader or Universal Trader principles or have set trade routes. This ultimately fails as they tend to want to make the biggest buck with the least amount of stock possible.

Personally I think the current trade system needs to switch to more of a corporate controlled one for immersion purposes (and working purposes). The corps are fighting to set up wares routes and build trade empires. They have their own fleets of traders and protection vessels. They own and build and trade to support their specific ware structure. Give the different corps different primary and secondary wares, some specialising in mining, others in tech etc...

This way it's not just a bunch of randoms running about the universe. Setting up supply routes would be a necessity for them as well as convoy protection.

Blips · Post by **Blips** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 05:38

Some questions from a new player:

1) Is this mod compatible with the Naval Shuffle mod (http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=269963) assuming the player HQ / Power Plant portions of the mod are not installed?

2) Does the ship construction also affect the Player HQ and other Races? Will it take time for a race to construct a new ship?

3) Does this mod disable GoD forcing the AI to rebuild their lost stations?

TrixX · Post by **TrixX** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 05:40

1) Yes.

2) Dunno, probably.

3) Depends on the situation. If a sector takeover occurs a race can no longer build in that sector until they retake it. Don't know about other situations though. I think they do rebuild after a short while if an attack is repulsed/retreats.

Jack08 · Post by **Jack08** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 05:46

Blips wrote:Some questions from a new player:
2) Does the ship construction also affect the Player HQ and other Races? Will it take time for a race to construct a new ship?

IR's ships are already constructed using the same time formula that the player ship construction routines use, Ships created by the jobs file are simply spawned we have no control over them

Player ship construction in no way modifys HQ.xml, It is a standalone script that is executed via already existing shipyards & signal hooks

3) Does this mod disable GoD forcing the AI to rebuild their lost stations?

GoD isnt touched, God will do what ever he wants to do...
The Economic Booster function within IR is much more effective then god anyway

Blips · Post by **Blips** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 06:58

Silly question:

The install directions say to start a new game, rename our pilot and then extract the zip to our directory. well... the file I downloaded was a .spk, should I just assume the same applies to the .spk and install it with the plugin manager after starting a new game?

Also, what does IR stand for? (prepares for flaming)

Jack08 · Post by **Jack08** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 07:04

Blips wrote:Silly question:

The install directions say to start a new game, rename our pilot and then extract the zip to our directory. well... the file I downloaded was a .spk, should I just assume the same applies to the .spk and install it with the plugin manager after starting a new game?

Also, what does IR stand for? (prepares for flaming)

Yes, just install the SPK, dont worry about the rest

Well IR has many meanings, some include Infra-Red, International Relations, Infomation Retrival and Interupt Request, just to name a few
However in this case, IR mens ImprovedRaces ... lol

Blips · Post by **Blips** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 07:10

Jack08 wrote: However in this case, IR mens ImprovedRaces ... lol

See my coat of fire. See my scorched skin. See my ashy remains.

TrixX · Post by **TrixX** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 07:25

The worst is Internal Revenue...

Here would you like a pale of water

Jack08 · Post by **Jack08** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 07:34

Hello!
In this post i will be explaining how to use IR:CS (Improved Races: Communication System) v1.0, Improved Responses v1.2 and New Tax System v1.0

R15.14 Released: Remember to run the IR Re installer when loading a previous save game, Changes have been made to several signal scripts

Now, Lets begin with IR:CS.
IR:CS Functions much the same way as ECS does, There is 1 global hot-key:
[ external image ]

This hot-key currently only has 1 function, When the hot-key is used when the player has no target, This window will appear:
[ external image ]
There are 2 Options on this menu, The first one will be covered later.
The Second option is a shortcut to the Improved Races configuration menu

That is basically all you need to know about IR:CS, Now On to the new tax system & improved responses

The First thing worth noting is the new Empire Overview menu witch can be accessed via the IR:CS Main menu (see above screen shot)
[ external image ]
The first major thing you may notice is the presence of negative taxes, thats right. The stations you deploy in other races territory are now taxed by that race - as a result of these taxes the race holding the sector will protect the station from attack.
The tax amounts that you pay scale with reputation, and at a point you eventually stop paying tax (910,000 notoriety)

The Empire overview is divided into 5 columns, the first being the stations name (obviously

)
The Second will show you a count of how many stations there are in a complex or sector
The Defender Option displays the currently selected NPC race that will be called for assistance when factory's come under attack in this sector - This option is optional and dosent have to be selected
And the last 2 columns are self explanatory

The Empire overview menu is interactive, By selecting a station you can turn its taxes on an off, You can also modify entire sectors at once witch is what i will talk about now
[ external image ]

The first option is a Tax Toggle, It will enable or disable taxes for the entire sector, this can also be done for individual stations too by selecting them from the empire overview.
The second option will allow you to select who defends the stations in this sector, However you can only set this value if you are the owner of this sector and you have a high enough notoriety value with a faction (above 910,000 - 90% of the highest rank)

Due to how this menu works, Settings will not be saved unless you hit the 'Save Settings' button, As this will override the settings for every station in the sector. The similar menu that allows you to modify individual stations dose not require you to hit a save button

And here is the final screen shot of this post, A picture of the new tax message
[ external image ]

And thats it! It took a lot more time then i had hoped it would to release this but now its here

Have fun!
And please don't break it hahahahahaha...

TrixX · Post by **TrixX** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 07:49

Now that's more logical than the galactic betting ring a.k.a. the Stock Exchange

Looks awesome. Gonna hold off playing IR until R15.14 is out now.

Good to see another Aussie on the forum, it gets a little quiet here during the day

Jack08 · Post by **Jack08** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 09:13

Version R15.14 is up and running, Have fun and rember to report any glitches you encounter

See This Post for details

narhiril · Post by **narhiril** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 12:30

Can't wait to give the empire manager a spin. Unfortunately, it's 5:30 am so it will have to wait a few hours.

TrixX · Post by **TrixX** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 12:47

Narhiril you're worse than me

Giving a spin after I finish balancing the races as I plan

Jack08 · Post by **Jack08** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 18:08

Now for a sneak peak at the next feature to be added to IR:CS
[ external image ]

Wintersdark · Post by **Wintersdark** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 19:41

oo oo oo will that allow us to buy ships pre-loaded with weapons and software?

While the whole "hunt around the universe" thing for various pieces of software/equipment/gear is fun when you're starting out in a fighter, it quickly becomes annoying when you're trying to equip fleets.

One of my biggest complaints about vanilla is that you can't simply buy/build ship equipment as cargo. It's ridiculously annoying to have to move a fleet from place to place to pick up all the random parts. Seriously. Why can't I buy 200 jump drives, and stash 'em in my fleet support TL?

djrygar · Post by **djrygar** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 20:24

yes, thee will be predefined equipment packages

of course:

if there will be no ordered equipment in local EQ dock, it will have to be brought from somewhere else by shipyard employees

- ship building time will increase...

...as well as price - equuipment packages will cost extra money. You probably still will have to hunt for equipment on your own, when short on cash. This is feature for billionaires

Much later in the game hunting may become irritating, so if you have got money - here is king's service :>

Packages - I wanted something like COdea packages - so you can buy codea ready ships. Jacks wants something more fancy like player predefined packages.

..probably there will be both ;p

Wintersdark · Post by **Wintersdark** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 20:48

Yeah, I have little interest in codea; really, I just want to be able to predefine packages. I don't really care what they cost, and am neutral in "balance" things.

I don't view the current "hunt for your stuff" paradigm as a difficulty/balance issue in any form at all. It's merely annoying. Like I said, when you're first playing through the game it's a very good thing! Discovering your first Transporter Device, or Jump Drive, is a really big deal. Kitting out your personal ship with gear from across the universe is awesome.

So, in a vanilla "plotty" game, where you're not even considering empire management and instead are playing the traditional plot-based game, it's great.

However, when you're looking into the long-term playing of X3, with your own empire, it's immensely annoying.

Take longer to make, cost more... don't care either way. I don't see it as a necessary thing: Just because something is easier than it is in Vanilla doesn't demand "balancing", but on the other hand.... eh. A time delay just means I kick on setax10 and get a sandwich. Costing more, well, so long as it's not absurdly more it has very little impact. Most software, even the higher end ones, are comparatively cheap when you're looking at building fleets. Increasing the price, even by 100%, just doesn't really impact much.

I guess I'm just in the camp that feels game difficulty and UI difficulty shouldn't be confused. Things that alter game difficulty should prompt balance considerations, but things that alter UI difficulty (like the absurdity of being unable to buy a stack of jump drives to install on a fighter wing I'm planning to purchase elsewhere) shouldn't.

With that being said, I would like to say: Don't go overboard with "time as a balancing factor". Things taking longer in a game as balance is poor game design: It's basically enforcing boredom as a gameplay mechanic. I understand you want some delay as a realism factor (it is a stretch to imagine that the ship you want to buy just magically appears, customized to your specification instantly) but on the other hand, nobody likes boredom and it's largely trivialized by SETA anyways.

Just some thoughts anyways

djrygar · Post by **djrygar** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 21:22

well, time build as immersion factor is one thing

second - you wll not be able to use seta when you are under attack

this is of course matter of settings and the way you play game, but I have had this several times - one of my stations attacked by PG, second by Khaak and there is AI battle with plenty of expensive loot - and I had no time to manage all that stuff

those things happen.

and in such situations thing like time needed to build is something that may cost you a lot ;>

plus, - I am aiming to reduce rate at which player gains notoriety / money

for example - for myself I am using modified missiles and lasers - they are either cheap (lasers like 40-60%) or ridiculously cheap

and you know what is biggest outcome of that? much slower money grinding - cheap missiles means no easy money from missiles. Long after finishing terran plotline I still cannot afford M1 / M2 ;D

Vanilla game/missions does flood player with money. Nicely modified game - does not.

I will also reduce payments from mission when I will have bit time, and also reduce notoriety gains from trading (currently each trading operation adds 10 points) - this will cause notoriety to grow much , much slower

ThisIsHarsh · Post by **ThisIsHarsh** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 22:34

Yeah, upgrading, equipping and configuring multiple ships is a pain (*cough* Auto prep ships *cough* - update coming very soon)

djrygar · Post by **djrygar** » Fri, 24. Sep 10, 23:03

ThisIsHarsh wrote:Yeah, upgrading, equipping and configuring multiple ships is a pain (*cough* Auto prep ships *cough* - update coming very soon)

somehow I never managed this one to work.. Biggest success was one single run and then infinite idle at homebase ;/

well, I love Codea and there are tenders that work great.
Especially all this pilot micromanagement.

If only they were more 'alive', like Mars Goblins or 7ate's Universe Explorers..

[script/mod] ImprovedRaces R15.31 (24.04.2012)

IR:CS v1.0, Improved Responses v1.2 & New Tax System v1.0 Tutorial